SEC Shorts: Georgia Bulldogs and Hope are Fighting Again
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ATHENS - The No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs and coach Kirby Smart are getting set to take on No. 2 Michigan, and SEC Shorts has something to say about it.
SEC Shorts, the quick-form comedy team that comments in on events around the league each week, suggests that Georgia and Hope are fighting just before for New Year’s Eve.
Bulldogs Extend The Nation’s Longest Active Bowl Streak to 25 Games
Third-ranked Georgia will face second-ranked Michigan in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the 2021 Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. The Bulldogs (12-1) will represent the SEC in their second CFP appearance while the Wolverines (12-1) hail from the Big Ten and will be making their first appearance in a CFP contest. The winner of this contest will then advance to the CFP National Championship in Indianapolis on Jan. 10. The Bulldogs rank second nationally with 57 bowl appearances. They have made a school record 24 consecutive appearances, the nation’s longest active bowl streak. Georgia owns an all-time 33-21-3 record in bowl games. Last season, No. 9 Georgia won the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta, beating an undefeated No. 8 Cincinnati squad 24-21.
Orange Bowl History For The Bulldogs
This will mark Georgia’s fourth trip to the Orange Bowl and first since 1960. The Bulldogs own a 2-1 record, topping TCU 40-26 in UGA’s first bowl game on Jan. 1, 1942, falling to Texas 41-28 on Jan. 1, 1949, and blanking No. 18 Missouri 14-0 on Jan. 1, 1960.
Georgia-Michigan Series History
Georgia and Michigan have squared off only twice and both of the matchups have come in
Ann Arbor. The Bulldogs lost the first contest and won the second showdown. In the third game
of the 1957 season, the Bulldogs traveled to Michigan and fell to the 10th-ranked Wolverines 26-0.
Eight years later, College Football Hall of Famer and then second-year head coach Vince Dooley
took his 10th-ranked team to Michigan’s campus and upset the seventh-ranked Wolverines 15-7 in
what was also the third game on Georgia’s slate that season.
Salute To The Seniors
The 2021 Bulldog seniors will be playing their 14th game of this season in the CFP Semifinal.
They enter the matchup with a 43-8 record. The most wins by a Georgia class is 44, and that’s been
done three times including by the past two teams: 44-9 (2005), 44-12 (2019) and 44-9 (2020). This
group of Bulldogs has won three SEC Eastern Division crowns, including the 2021 division title,
and won the 2020 Allstate Sugar Bowl and 2021 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
Georgia’s most decorated senior class came in 1983 as it went 43-4-1, winning the 1980 National Championship and three SEC titles (1980-82). Last year’s senior class concluded its career with a 44-9 record, including a CFP Semifinal victory over No. 2 Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl Game and a trip to the National Championship.
Aiming for Thirteen
This season marked the first time since 1980 that the Bulldogs went 12-0 during the regular season. Georgia became only the fourth team in school history to finish a regular season undefeated and untied with double-digit victories (1946, 1980, 1982). Prior to this season, Vince Dooley’s 1980 consensus national champion was the last Georgia squad to go 12-0 after defeating Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. The school record for wins in a season is 13, and that’s been done twice
(2002 under Mark Richt and 2017 under Kirby Smart).
* Mark Richt’s 2002 squad went 13-1, winning the SEC title over Arkansas and the Sugar Bowl
over Florida State. It finished ranked No. 3.
* Smart’s 2017 team finshed at 13-2, defeated Auburn for the league title and Oklahoma in
the Rose Bowl Game/CFP Semifinal, before losing in overtime to Alabama in the CFP National
Championship. It had a final ranking of No. 2.
Bulldogs Reap Rewards from Historic Season
With some post-season awards yet to be announced, Georgia has already claimed a substan-
tial share of the bounty. On Dec. 9, senior tackle Jordan Davis won the Outland Trophy -- which goes annually to the nation’s top interior lineman, offense or defense -- and the Bednarik Award,
which goes to the top defensive player. Earlier, junior OLB Nakobe Dean won the Butkus Award,
which goes each year to the nation’s top linebacker.
Both Davis and Dean were also named to the Walter Camp All-America First Team, and OL
Jamaree Salyer earned second-team All-America honors. A total of 10 Bulldogs won All-SEC
honors, as voted by the league’s 14 head coaches. Head Coach Kirby Smart was named 2021
SEC Coach of the Year, while tight end Brock Bowers was named SEC Freshman of the Year.
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